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How often do you call 911 or similar emergency number?

How often do you call emergency services?

  • In the US: Less than once a year.

    Votes: 52 46.0%

  • In the US: Once a year.

    Votes: 1 0.9%

  • In the US: 2-6 times a year.

    Votes: 5 4.4%

  • In the US: More than 6 times a year.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Outside the US: Less than once a year.

    Votes: 48 42.5%

  • Outside the US: Once a year.

    Votes: 1 0.9%

  • Outside the US: 2-6 times a year.

    Votes: 1 0.9%

  • Outside the US: More than 6 times a year.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • On Planet X, every person is issued a police officer to be with them 26 hours a day, 8 days a week.

    Votes: 5 4.4%
  • Total voters
    113
The police have non emergency numbers. If nobody is about to die, that's what should be used.

Sure, vehicle stopped in the middle of traffic, call 911. I've never actually seen that though.
 
I live in South Dekalb County, GA. I hear gunshots 3-4 nights a week, and it's not from good old boys plinking at beer cans.

The first time this happened, and I heard a shotgun blast coming from a few houses away, I called 911. The operator, in a bored tone of voice, said they'd send a cruiser to patrol the neighborhood.

The second time, I called again. The operator was again annoyed, and again promised to send a car through the neighborhood.

Neither phone call had any effect on the frequency of gunshots.

I just stopped bothering at that point.
 
I am a USAian. I have never called 911 in my 48 years on this planet.

As a side note I have never dialed 119 in China either (I always think that it is humorous that the number is "upside-down) on the opposite side of the world).
 
Things we have called emergency services for

Our burner in out boiler catching fire

A car accident we saw

A dog locked in a hot car
 
Let's see:
Once to report a car on its roof. I asked if a rollover at x intersection had been reported. It had.
Once to report my mother-in-law had fallen and been injured.
Once to report my wife was critically ill, saving her life.
Called for me a couple of times, for car accidents and when I fell off the roof.
 
ahhell said:
The police have non emergency numbers. If nobody is about to die, that's what should be used.

Sure, vehicle stopped in the middle of traffic, call 911. I've never actually seen that though.
Click to expand...

This is not entirely accurate and varies widely between localities. For example, in my suburb both 911 and the listed non-emergency number go to the same operators.
 
pgwenthold said:
Accidents? Absolutely (how do you know they are minor? Even a minor rear end can cause injury and damage, and if there is either, you want to have a police report. If I see an accident occur on the road, I am going to notify the police for them.
Click to expand...

In Philly, they want you to call 911 for minor accidents. On roads serviced by the PPD and not state troopers, they won't send out police unless there's an injury or property damage. If no injuries, both cars are drivable and there's nothing interfering with traffic, they'll log the call and then you can get an accident report later.
 
ahhell said:
The police have non emergency numbers. If nobody is about to die, that's what should be used.
Click to expand...
This is not always true. As I mentioned above, this isn't the case in Philadelphia. Any time you think the police will need to be involved, you call 911 emergency or not.

(And before anyone mentions it, yes the PPD website says 311 is the non-emergency number. But 311 is a general city services number. You'd call that if you have a question, need to set up something like police detail at a future event, or talk to a specific person. If you need to report a crime, nuisance, accident, or otherwise request the presence of the police, they'll tell you to call 911 emergency or not)
 
bonzombiekitty said:
In Philly, they want you to call 911 for minor accidents. On roads serviced by the PPD and not state troopers, they won't send out police unless there's an injury or property damage. If no injuries, both cars are drivable and there's nothing interfering with traffic, they'll log the call and then you can get an accident report later.
Click to expand...

I was told to call 911 in NYC to get a police report when my car was broken into.
 
Since we moved into this neighborhood I've called 911 more often than the rest of my life combined. Mostly to report "shots fired" which they've asked everyone to do since it helps them triangulate the location. I've gotten very good at recognizing the different sounds.

Last autumn I had to call for medical reasons for a change.
 
Every time I see an ambulance in my development, I wonder if they know something about me that I don't.

I'm in the hospital about once every six weeks, but I need to call an ambulance only once every six months. They're almost always fast, courteous and professional. I've waited from 3 minutes to about 10.

For some reason, sometimes the police also come. They're generally just in the way.
 
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This year. Needed an ambulance to get my wife to the hospital for a medical emergency. Fortunately, they released her after only two days.

Last year. A pole transformer a few hundred yards up the street blew up during a rather energetic electrical storm. I hadn't bothered about the first two, I just called the power company's report number to let them know we were in the dark. This one set a couple of trees on fire, though, and left a hot power line swinging around above the street, so I figured it was a bit more urgent.

Year before. Someone lost it on the deadman's curve right before our house (one of the few places in this part of NC I've seen where the "Dangerous Curve Ahead" signs are really warranted) and ended up in our front yard.

Four years ago. At the time we were in an apartment complex in Chapel Hill. A pretty tame one occupied mostly by grad students, young professionals, and retired folks. It was late at night (more like very early in the morning) and I saw several shadowy figures, dressed in black and carrying what looked like rifles, moving around in the periphery of the parking lot lighting.

When I called 911 they told me to keep my line clear, hung up, and called back to tell me it was official business and to stay inside.

Turns out the FBI was moving in on some college kid that had been sending fraudulent emails to a local bank.

They had the wrong apartment, wrong apartment building, and wrong apartment complex.

But on reflection I guess I should have been reassured that I was (mostly) safe, as long as I hadn't gone out to my car to get something or some other suspicious looking activity.

Back through the past few decades. A couple of car accidents which I saw happen. A couple of other medical emergencies which warranted more than loading someone up and driving them to the ER. (Head trauma, possible spinal injury ... that sort of thing.)

On a per year basis? Well under once a year. Or even once every few years.

More, apparently, than some folks here.
 
Loss Leader said:
Every time I see an ambulance in my development, I wonder if they know something about me that I don't.

I'm in the hospital about once every six weeks, but I need to call an ambulance only once every six months. They're almost always fast, courteous and professional. I've waited from 3 minutes to about 10.

For some reason, sometimes the police also come. They're generally just in the way.
Click to expand...

That is generally policy on residential calls, they are there to evaluate the situation and make sure everything is safe. For example medical personnel can not break in or restrain a patient. So they usually get dismissed pretty quickly.

They can also be helpful for lifting if needed.
 
I think the poll lacks precision in the "Less than once a year" category. I've never called 911, and it seems that many other posters are in the zero to once in their lives range.
 
When I was a teenager working at a Doughnut shop, I called 911 when a person reached around the display and stole a doughnut and ran. By the time 911 operator stopped laughing, I understood there is a minimum threshold of importance the situation failed to reach.

Fortunately, my boss never asked about the missing doughnut(s), if they were even noticed. This was when my life of crime began and I stopped confining my doughnut consumption to the day old tray.
 
I report drunk drivers, less now that you aren't supposed to use the cell phone while driving. Called in a couple traffic accidents as the first one on the scene.

Called once a couple decades ago when my CO alarm went off, and once when my dad plugged his motor home into my kitchen outlet and it started smoking, a lot. Once in college when I awoke to the windows breaking from a fire in the dentist office next door. (Our windows faced each other's.) Once when the rooming house I was the manager of had a fire, guy smoking in bed set the room on fire. And once for a smoldering stump in the park behind my house. Some idiots lit fireworks in it an left it burning.

Called once for the used syringe in my yard, once for the propane tank that fell off a gardener's truck, also in my yard. Called once when my son was 3 because a man at the park grabbed him and took his toy sword away and became threatening when I asked for it back.

There are probably things I'm forgetting. I have never called because someone 'looked suspicious'.

Yep, remembered another time. A drunk driver high ended his car on a rock in the neighbor's yard after skidding out going to fast around a corner. I called the cops because he was so drunk he kept trying to drive off the rock but couldn't. They arrested him.
 
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